YANGON, Myanmar — On Nov. 13, 2014, we gathered a panel of journalists and faith leaders representing Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism to discuss how they see local media portrayals of faith in Myanmar.

The evening was part of our four-day training workshop on covering religious freedom and conflict, sponsored by the U.K. Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

Speakers included:

U Aye Lwin – Chief Convener, The Islamic Centre of Myanmar; Founding Member, Religions for Peace

U Myint Swe – President, Ratana Metta Organization; Chairman, Religions for Peace

Dr Saw Hlaing Bwa – Professor, Myanmar Institute of Theology

U Aung Naing – Hindu community; Executive committee member, Religions for Peace

The panel was moderated by U Myint Kyaw, Secretary General, Myanmar Journalist Network.

During the week, we trained 15 media professionals from across Myanmar. The intensive workshop included classroom-based training sessions and guest speakers covering Myanmar’s religious diversity, issues of hate speech, religious freedom, media freedom, conflict reporting and other topics.

The training also included a half-day reporting trip to interview local religious communities at their houses of worship. Over the four days, participating editors, reporters, bloggers and other media professionals representing print, radio, television and online outlets in Myanmar wrote and produced stories demonstrating best reporting practices learned during the trainings.

Some of these stories were published in the participants’ own outlets and by our 100+ global media partners.